DIY Decorated Boxes (Part 1 of 2)

When I was thinking about who in my life I would choose to be my bridesmaids, I already knew I wanted to ask them in a creative way. I can probably blame my sister for that. When she asked me to be a bridesmaid, it was with a giant plastic diamond ring in a cute little box. As it turns out, fun bridesmaid proposals are actually a pretty common thing.

Of course, not everyone sees this. I mentioned my proposal project on Facebook, and one of my friends said, “Why can’t you just ask them?” My short answer for that is, that’s too easy. I love a challenge. These girls are going to be putting up with my crazy planning for the next year and a half, so I want to do something special for them in return.

I came up with an idea to decorate plain white boxes, one for each girl, and fill it with little goodies that go along with asking them to be a bridesmaid. There will be more on that in Part 2 of this post—today I’m just showing the actual decorating of the box.

I got 6-inch by 6-inch white craft boxes from Michael’s for a couple dollars each, which was great considering I had to buy six of them! Today, I spent time decorating the lid, and personalizing each box for a different girl. Time to walk you through that process!

Materials Needed: blank white box (any size), two sheets of 12-inch by 12-inch scrapbook paper (any design of your choosing, but make sure it’s normal paper thickness, tape, scissors, X-acto knife, and spray adhesive. Also, a computer and printer to create the name outline.

Decorating the Lid

I had actually made a video of this originally, but in all honestly I'm battling a cold right now and difficult to understand, so I'll just be posting screencaps from the video. Let's begin! 

Step 1: Put a small, rolled piece of tape on the center on the box, and stick it to the underside of the scrapbook paper. On two sides, leave enough paper so that when you fold it over the lid, there’s a little extra that can be folded over on the inside.

Step 1.

Excess paper on the edge.

Step 2: Trim the other two sides of the paper so that it’s about the same on all sides.

Step 2.

Step 3: Flip the lid over, and crease the paper along the edges. This just helps to keep the paper flat once you start folding it more.

Step 3.

Step 4: Take one edge, and fold the paper over the lip and onto the inside of the lid. Don’t tape it just yet, though.

Step 4.

Step 5: Fold the paper over the left edge of the lid in front of you so that the paper is creased to an angle.

Step 5.

Step 6: Fold the extra paper at the top over the edge. There may be some extra paper in the inside corner, which you can just push into place.

Step 6.

Step 7: Repeat steps 5 and 6 for the right-hand side.

Step 7.

Step 8: Tape down all three edges on the inside.

Step 8.

Step 9: Repeat steps 4 through 7 on the opposite side of the lid. You now have two opposite sides complete, and two opposite sides with a trapezoid shape of excess paper.

Trapezoid shapes after Step 9.

Step 10: Fold each of these two sides over the lip, and tape on the inside.

Step 10.

When you’re done, it should kind of like a wrapped present! This one worked out oddly well in that the lines still all line up on the side. If you used normal weight paper, the lid should still fit on the box snugly, but with no issues. That’s it!

The final product! 

Personalizing the Box

Step 1: Trim the second sheet of scrapbook paper to the size of a letter sheet of paper, 8.5-inch by 11-inch. This allows you to use the designed paper in a printer.

Step 2: Use any word processing program (personally I used InDesign) to write the name and make an outline. Use any font that you want, but keep in mind, the fancier the font is, the more difficult it will be to cut it out later on. Make sure that the printed size will fit on the edge on the box’s surface. For mine, as it was a 6-inch square, I made the name about 5 inches wide.

Step 3: Print the outline onto the trimmed scrapbook paper. If it’s a busy design, you might want to pay attention to where the words print on the page, because you want to be able to see the edges of the letters.

Printed letters on the scrapbook paper.

Step 4: Using an X-acto knife, very carefully cut along the outlines of the letters. Make sure you have a cutting board or thick paper underneath so you don’t cut into whatever you’re bearing down on.

The result!

Step 5: Spray the back of each letter with some spray adhesive, like the one I have pictured here. Don’t use too much, because it can get very messy, very fast! (As I experience while making this how-to guide.)

My preference for spray adhesive, which I think I found at Walmart. 

Step 6: Place each letter onto the box before the adhesive sets. I start with the last letter against the bottom right hand corner, and go backwards through the letters to make sure the spacing fits right. Make sure you let the glue fully set before putting anything into the box, you they don't move around unintentionally. 

Glued down letters.

This time around, my letters turned out a little messy (you can see some of the glue around the Y), but I think it still looks okay. I’m pretty sure Karyn, my Maid of Honor, is going to love it!

Completed box with lid and name! 

So there you have it! A simple way to personalize boxes for anyone. But what do you fill it with? Well, anything you want! I go through what I’m including in my bridesmaid proposal boxes in Part Two of this DIY series!